The Kraken

You can't field a player who isn't registered to the club with the Football League. Its why there are deadlines before games so you can't just sign someone 3 minutes prior to kick off. For weekend games I think the deadline if Friday at midday, not sure for weekday games. They may have to put out a youth team against Plymouth if the takeover drags on, I can't believe the Football League will gloss over it and sign without ensuring there is security that all their conditions will be fulfilled (actually scratch that, its the Football League so I have no confidence in them at all). I'd have thought they need to work through the weekend to have the whole deal signed befoer Monday morning to allow for all the registrations with the FL etc to get done in time.

Well Birch has already said it'll take longer than the "deadline" of Friday. You'd imagine not much will get done over the weekend, at least nothing officially. They're playing Plymouth in the League Cup on Tuesday; so the deal for them has to be concluded before then to compete in that. In the time it takes for Chinny to agree to the takeover the FL have to agree to the transfer of the golden share (and with the various conditions attached to that it surely won't be a simple task), they have to agree contracts with players, and they have to get them registered with the football league. Not impossible, but a tough ask.

As long as Chainrai wants to bid, the Council's loan cannot be invoked. It was conditional on no other commercial bid being on the table. Therefore the Trust's bid doesn't exist unless Chainrai walks away, and they cannot afford to bid without the loan. Simple really.

Just for balance; a Man City side featuring Joe Hart, Gael Clichy, Joleon Lescott, James Milner, Samir Nasri, Nigel de Jong and Roque Santa Cruz lost in their pre-season game on Tuesday. To Oldham. Maybe on the back of that we're favourites for next Sunday's game?

Well you have to admire the (blind) optimism, I suppose. Although to be fair, if Fratton Park is taken out then the club really isn't worth much in itself down in League 1. Its just the level of lease payments for the stadium that would determine whether its a feasibile purchase or not, I'd suggest very much not. I don't know why Fratton Park is so important to them all of a sudden. Lots of their fans saying they wouldn't mind going down the phoenix route but losing Fratton Park would be a step too far and if that happened they'd jack it in. Yet they were perfectly happy to entertain ideas of moving to somewhere better when they were blinded by the Premier League's bright lights. Weird.

That's one option of course. But its a bit cleaner for him to get them to up their current £2.75M bid to around £4M or so and then just make a clean break. Surely even the Trust couldn't afford a £1M fee over their heads, I know they're desperate to take over but the profits on that just wouldn't stand up. And I expect the business rates would be utterly huge for a plot that size.

This BMXing is aboslutely mental, its like watching MarioKart. Brilliant stuff.

Really just outlines that the Trust have never been in the running; Birch was only ever going to deal with Portpin. You simply have to believe that Portpin and Birch have agreed a sum in terms of player wage deferrals that Chainrai is happy to swallow (it would be utterly ludicrous for Birch to agree sums blind to Portpin). The Trust have seemingly been kept out of the loop on this while they scratch together to find the money they need. The council putting the criteria for "no other commercial bid being on the table" gives Birch the get-out clause he needs to deal direct with Portpin and keep the Trust in the shadows. This could actually play into Chainrai's hands. He gets the club on the cheap; he gets to pay off the CVA and some of the derferrals without dipping into his own pocket (using parachute payments). And he can play the Trust to his own ends, get them to up their offer to him (they now don't have to fund the CVA so could add that to their offer to him for Fratton Park). So 2 years down the line, with parachte payments gone and Chainrai losing interest with no more funds to channel into his back pocket, he'll sell up to an increased Trust bid. You have to say hats off to the man, he's played Birch and the Trust absolutely perfectly.

Agreed. If we don't win by 2 goals we're sure to be relegated.

Maybe I'm thinking of another film then; this was also a blockbuster but the scene was in a London pub and there was a football game on the TV. Could have sworn it Mission Impossible, there we go.

I remember this coming up before. Wasn't the TV on in a pub, not the radio? I have a memory of Leicester maybe being on TV, either that or Darius Vassell!!

Like others, I made the mistake this time last season of questioning whether RL could be as effective at Championship level as he was at League 1. Last season I thought his all round game actually improved, and he kept scoring goals too. This time round I'm more than willing to hold my horses and wait to see what he can do; instinct tells me he will succeed. When we played Pompey in the cup as a League 1 side he completely bossed them about and on another day could have easily got a couple of goals. And our team to support him is immeasurably better than then. The centre backs even for the top sides are really not going to relish playing against him, and he is a great penalty and free kick taker. Plus in pre-season last he scored only 1 goal, which led to many to write him off. I think he'll be a star. Besides, what's the uproar in putting a £10 bet on?! Are forum users so poor that wasting £10 on an optimistic bet is deemed so tragic as to question someone's sanity?

Chainrai's bid goes through, the council saves face, repeat the administration process when the parachute payments stop.

Of course they're trvial, its a message board for irrational and bored people while the football isn't on! Anyway, I don't want to carry on moaning about the people moaning about the moaning....

In which case I find it surprising that you're trying to stop others doing the same. But never mind.

Maybe some do find it hard to navigate. I don't like the OS, not for those reasons, but I thnk its pretty bad. Same old rules, really. If you don't like the debate, either don't participate in it or try and shape it. Sniping from the sidelines about everyone moaning is equally pointless; just ignore it or put up a counter argument.

Well that's an obvious bonus.

Are only positive comments allowed?

That doesn't mean the gnashing and wailing won't strike up on cue after our first 3, 4 or 5 games where, lets face it, we'd be doing amazingly well not to be bottom of the table given our fixture list. Actually it probably won't take that long.

Reading have pretty much completed their signings for the summer, they purposefully got it all done early. They signed 8 players. West Ham have secured contracts for 7 players who are either new signings or confirmed from previous loans.

What about if we lose every one of our first, say 10 games?

Four Four Two have announced their prediction for the final positions in the PL. 1) Man City 2) Man Utd 3) Spurs 4) Arsenal 5) Chelsea 6) Liverpool 7) Newcastle 8 )Everton 9) Sunderland 10) Aston Villa 11) Stoke City 12) Fulham 13) QPR 14) Norwich 15) West Ham 16) Wigan 17) Southampton 18 ) Reading 19) West Brom 20) Swansea I can't see Spurs finishing above arsenal, though agree with Chelsea in 5th. No way Stoke as high as 11th, I think they'll struggle. Bottom 5 or 6 about right, West Brom with Steve Clarke could be in trouble IMO.

I didn't ever say there was, in fact I stated that there wasn't.

Put TBH's windows in.

I wouldn't read too much into it; Birch has done all his business through the media and this could just be his latest tactic to put pressure on TBH and Lawrence to sort their deals out.